STAR TRAIL PHOTOGRAPHY | Tips & Tricks for Better Images
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- Опубликовано: 22 апр 2020
- Star Trail photography is a beautiful, unique and relatively easy form of astrophotography which is highly accessible to photographers regardless of light pollution and equipment constraints. However there are a range of things you can do to take your star trail photography to the next level. In this video I capture a super long star trail image from my back garden and go over some of the challenges and best settings to really create the most impactful images. Thank you for watching and if you have not yet subscribed please click that subscribe button and bell icon below for more content from me. Take care and see you all soon 🙂
#startrails #astrophotography #nightsky
Star Stax - markus-enzweiler.de/software/...
My other video on star trails which covers the post processing in a little more detail can be found here - • Star Trail Photography...
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I just did this last week when I was on vacation with my D750. I used my Tamron 14-30 at 18mm, ISO 400, at 4.5. Set my intervalometer at 1 sec between and unlimited with a 20 sec shot for each picture. My battery died after a 191 shots, roughly 2 and a quarter hours.
Wow! Great job and Thanks 🙏 for sharing your settings
Great job James. Thanks for the video.
Awesome!
Awesome shot and video well done!
Wonderful! Thanks!
Fantastic video thanks for the tips if you ever get the chance you should come down to Australia and go bush, there’s nothing like seeing the Milky Way from our point of view
Great picture..love it!
Amazing. This is my first exposure to star trail photography.
Never disappoint James. Your astro images are always superb. Great vlog.
Love star trail shooting. Been about 6 years since my last time out. Good work dude. Good to see you making videos again 👍👍
thankyou and i loved your image more than most because of the silhouette added
Thank you James for sharing this info. I really enjoyed it and will be giving star trail photography a try.
Great video as usual ! Nice job on the computer side also. That really helps one see how to finish the job.
Excellent video & great info! 🙌👏
Such clear videos thank you. Will be giving this a go soon
Wow great video and stunning image! Well worth the effort.
Really helpful and detailed video. Thanks!
Star trails with your silhouette is fantastic! I've also done some star trail photos and now I am inspired to add my silhouette as well :) Great video, thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching Mikael 🙂
That was an amazing detailed vlog. Absolutely loved the the final image. Thanks for sharing this James.
Thanks Mark 🙏
Great work! I've never tried this - so rare to get an uninterrupted clear night in England, hard enough doing any night photos
great proof of the stars rotating around the flat disc! have you EVER seen a rising star off the dome's horizon? love your photography!
Very helpful
Incredible image! Wow very good job , you are lucky to have such black sky in your garden!
Thanks Gabriele - definitely lucky to live in such a dark area
Thank you James that was an enjoyable video and a stunning image.
Thanks very much John 🙂
A fantastic video about a fascinating part of photography! Thank you so much, I am still excited and hope to get a chance to try out some day!
Thanks for watching Andreas 🙂
Powerful image!
Cheers Noreen
Looked epic , I got to do one with my shadow in it
Thanks for sharing. I never tried astrophotography before. You make it sound doable. I appreciate your posts during these trouble times.
Thanks for watching Glen - give it a go, good luck
Great picture as always. I’ve been trying the same thing as I live in a designated Dark Sky Community. I have the D850 and the Rokinon version of the 14mm lens. I went with f2.8, 3 minute interval and iso 640. Cuts down the number of images to about 35-40 and the time to 3-3.5 hours. Photoshop handles this number well. Stay safe!
Thanks Karl - nice suggestion on the settings 👍
Wow. Absolutely Fantastic James. :)
Thanks Steve 🙂
Great capture James ,just found your channel, I have grown to love night/astrophotography Star trail photography myself after a friend had shown me his results and i was blown away at his results, he lives at the foot of the Rocky mountains in Alberta so his playground is already spectacular, so i am wanting to learn to do this and maybe give it a go tonight in Manitoba and it'll be on the cooler side -18 celsius, so my battery life will be short i just need to buy a lens warmer this afternoon to have a go at it tonight, Cheers 👍
Magical image here James absolutely stunning, I have tried this sort of photography myself a few years ago but never for the amount of time you have shot it but I did have some decent results, great vlog as always James very interesting thank you
All the best stay safe James
Shaun.
Thanks very much Shaun - take care 👍
Lovely video James. I've been having a go at some star trails in the back garden these past few weeks.
Thank you :-)
the image @10.57 is amazing.
great stuff mate... well done you
Thanks Paul 👍
Awesome image mate.
Well done..
Cheers Craig
great vid. couldn't help but think of The Blair Witch Project around the 4 minute mark lol
😅
Nice job. One day I will try try this.
Thanks Maurice
Thank you very much
Great image, James. You are lucky to have such low light pollution levels, unlike here in Norwich!
Cheers John. Yes definitely - having said that Startrails looks surprisingly good even in heavily light polluted skies
Stunning image James and a fantastic vlog!! There’s inspiration a plenty from you to give it a go myself....should I be ready for the one clear night a year we get in Ireland 🤣
Thanks for watching Jim - plenty of opportunities at the moment with the incredible weather 👍
did you ever get your shot Jim ? Thinking of giving this a go having watched this excellent tutorial !
@@theirishbbqdad8578 Not yet, between one thing and another I haven't found time but I'm currently looking for a clear night to get the comet!!
well done
Cheers Derek 🙂
Wonderful video. Lucky me, I have a D750 and a Rokinon 14mm 2.8 lens. What I like best is your tips on getting cleaner star trail images. Your method to reduce the number of stars and getting better color makes sense. Have you compared star trails with Sequator and StarStaX? What settings do you use when gap filling? What do you think of the comet mode? Do you use dark frames?
Thank you!!!!
Fantastic shot. I suppose we have to take our opportunities where we can these days. not quite an unobscured horizon where I am but I managed to get a half decent shot of the moon a fortnight ago. If and when we get the chance to roam again I've got a spot with a nice castle clear of impediments and man made lights that might make a good shot, if I'm prepared to sleep in the car. Might give it a go.
Cheers Iain - yeah technically on the Isle of Man lockdown has been lifted slightly allowing me to get out with the camera. I'm not going to be filming anything however as I just don't feel its appropriate yet.
Yeah, I agree. I'm in an area where I could be out with the camera every day, as the 'guidelines' appear to be voluntary rather than enforceable. However, other than a few in and out food shopping trips (that's the risky bit) I've just sat in the garden and read. Thankfully, I'm not really the type that needs people around me so social distancing is a doddle. Not heading for the hills and glens is the difficult bit. They'll still be there after all of this...if I am :-)
I picked up a couple new tips from your video, including somewhat under exposing to reduce the number of stars and not overexpose those that remain. I will now have to test to see if increasing the interval between shots from 2s to 5s reduces sensor noise to any detectable extent. An external battery pack will get you through the night. I've been using a couple LanParte 6000 mAh packs for several years now. One of the two is no longer reaching full charge (4th charge indicator LED no longer lights), but the D800 and D750 are still willing the run on even that pack. The finicky D850 only accepts the pack that still reaches full charge. Its time to order a new pair of battery packs. The originals are starting to show their age. I'd be at a loss without without batteries that can power a DSLR through the night.
PS: Just checked my B&H order history. One of the packs was ordered May 2016, the other July 2017. They have been in service 4 years and 3 years respectively, and used frequently. Most likely its the 4-year-old pack that is starting to show its age (but the D800 and D750 are still happy to run on it).
I’d love to have a go at this but can’t figure out how to use my new camera 😬 (got a mirrorless now but only ever had a point and shoot before). I think the image would look great with any meteorites left in. Planes and satellites look bad but meteorites look cool.
HI I have been looking at doing a Milky Way just the same, What a challage it is. I may not get it now because of wether conditions and time running out of time with the Milky Way arch. I shell work on it tho. I have the problem of the light house being on a hill and it inland to. Thanks for giving me this idea even if it dose not work.
Stunning image James. One of your best ever, but I always say that. 😁😁😁 You have used the opportunity well to create a masterpiece. I hope you are feeling the old magic come back. And as from today we have a little more freedom so the pressure is on. ( only joking🙃)
Thanks Chris - I've not been out as yet, I probably will venture out at some point but won't be filming any videos until the situation has improved the most of my audience in the UK have their freedom back 🙂 Appreciate your kind comments as always 🙏🙏
Interesting thanks. I use an external battery for my D750: runs easily all night.
Awesome Video! I just need a warmer for my lens and I am set to go. One question I have about your method. Instead of going through each image in Lr to remove airplanes, have you tried using the spot healing brush tool in Ps? I took 15-second exposure images over 2 hours and was able to get a little star trail but had several airplanes in the background (Which was so bad at first I didn't think it would be usable). Using the spot healing brush in photoshop you can click at one end of an airplane trail and shift+click to the other end and it removes it perfectly. After doing this to my final image in starstax I was able to perfectly remove all of the flying oddities. I know batch editing is good in Lr for exposure and WB, but I'm curious what you think about trying to use Ps post starstax processing.
Thank you - yes that approach will work as well. It's just the healing brush can sometimes be poor at filling in the trails properly but sometimes it will do the job 👍
Its the first time I've watched one of your video's, it was really great thank you for sharing. It wasn't fussy just plain and simple for newbies like myself to star trail photography. This may seem a silly question but would 100-200 images work for a star trail? I look forward to watching more of your previous videos and future ones. Thank you again for sharing.
Really enjoyed your explanation. I’d be interested in knowing how you put your silhouette in the final image. I’m not terribly great at PS, but I imagine it’s free transform a d reposition into the side and mask in? Am I on the right trail (pardon the pun).
Thanks! Use blend modes on layers - then there is no need to cut round anything 👍
Such a great image! Thank you for the video! What time of day did you take selfie? Love your cactus light in the back!
Thanks Wendy - glad you like the Cactus 😂 I took the selfie right before starting the Intervalometer - so would have been around 10pm if my memory serves me correctly
Great tutorial, great star trails but also the timelapse from the previous night when the clouds rolled in was very nice. Nights with some passing clouds and the stars are very nice.
I can't seem to find your post-processing workflow. Can you give me a link? Thanks in advance.
Thank you - I didn't do an indepth editing video for this particular shot I'm afraid. Editing was fairly easy from what I remember however
I have a question about power supply during star trails. Considering it is a demanding long shooting how can you keep the camera up and running for hours ? Is an external power bank such as an Anker Power Delivery safe to use for so many hours ?
I mentioned earlier about putting me on the list for the new filter coming out....sometime👍
Thanks for a great video. Quick composition/technical question. When in image sequence did you move into frame to capture yourself and how long did you stand there to get dark silhouette? Look forward to trying this.
Thanks - Yes I stood in frame for one single image. Only had to stand there for 30 seconds. I them blended the silhouette from this single image into my final shot. Good luck!
Great video do you a video on how you added the photo of yourself
👍Super image, sound track, and thorough tutorial, James! You are fortunate to live where urban light polution is manageable and security allows for safely posting your gear outside overnight. Are aux power or extension lines w/adapter not practical for managing battery issue? Clever lens warmer; not seen that before. Did you exclude light artifact shots, or delete streaks in post? Growing full beard for lockdown? Misty looks all grown up - hope she is staying out of mischief.😁 Take care.
Thanks Paul - I'm not sure if you can get any such power solutions for the D750. I know on many mirrorless cameras now you can hook up powerbanks via USB C which would be fantastic for situations just like this. I deleted any satellite or meteor streaks in post - very time consuming as I needed to go through each frame individually. Haha yeah, I'm not cutting it until Covid19 is gone so I may well be entering Lumberjack territory soon. Misty is getting very big now but still as mischievous as ever 😂
@@JamesBrewphoto for extra battery capacity you could get battery grip, giving double power. I have a Chinese copy for my D7000, it is fine.
Very informative video. I have watched numerous ones on star trails & yours is the first to bring in a silhouette! Love it! Quick question: When do I take the silhouette image? Before starting the star trail process? I'm heading out to Utah this fall and it has the most designated Dark Sky places in the world and definitely want to try this. Big thanks in advance.
Thanks! Take before otherwise you'll be waiting around a long time
Great tips! I’m going to Utah(Zion and Bryce) next month and want to get some star trails. I think I’ll use my d750(not the Z6ii). Do you think the Nikon 16-35mm f4 is wide enough?
Yes that lens will be wide enough 👍
Great video. Subbed! When you reveal the final image what is that tune?
Thank you, much appreciated - the music is listed down in the description of the video 🙂
Exceptional video! Good teaching with rich, on-point content ready to use. Quick question, please - there is conflicting information "out there" about the relationship of interval to exposure using both internal and external intervelometers. Is this a correct statement: "To ensure correct operation, choose an interval at least one second longer than the exposure time. "
Another video says to add an interval "between" exposures, thus he said "set a 30 second exposure with a 2 second interval." Please advise. Thanks!~
Incredible image! Thank you for sharing it and the process. How long or how many frames did you stand there?
Thanks William - sorry only just seen your comment now. The number of frame and duration are explained about half way through the video
I have a Nikon 20mm f1.8 lens. Wouldn’t I get more trails with it wide open, or will the wider aperture just blow out the sky ??
This was awesome! Thank you James for yet another great video. Would it be safe to say that one doesn't need the 2.8 to achieve the same quality?
Cheers Jason - absolutely no need for f2.8 lenses to take star trail images. An f3.5 or 4 lens will be fine
Cool pic, how did you stand still for so long ??!!!!!!
Great video! I’m a bit confused on where in the process you took the silhouette shot can you elaborate? Thank you
Thanks - I took that before I set my intervalometer going. Simply just one frame with me stood in it 👍
Hello James, again a wonderful and instructive video!
I've been meaning to try StarTrail photography for a while now - alone I don't have such a nice, free meadow behind the house - and Berlin is way too bright. A quick question please: is it possible to create not only a stacked image with StarStax, but also the timelapses that can be seen at the very beginning of your video? So where more and more concentric circles are drawn? How do you create that or is that a timelaps of intermediate images taken out of the StarStax software?
All the best and stay 'healthy, Klaus
Hi Klaus, From memory you can set starstax to save each image as it adds an extra frame. If you then open all those images into Photoshop you can create a timelapse out of the frames which builds the trails. If you look online you'll find tutorials on how to create the timelapses in photoshop. Hope that helps
@@JamesBrewphoto Thanks, James - will find this surely - stay well
Was going to ask the exact same thing thank you for asking
I was gonna ask the same question. Thank you!
Hi James, quick question...when using a person in the frame (amazing shot by the way) do you shoot it at the beginning of your sequence or at the end? I'm using StarStax post process but it eliminated the person when I shot it as the first photo.
Cheers, best shoot right at the start before you start the intervalometer, that way you can go to bed or have a kip while waiting for the sequence to finish. Blend the single silhouette frame together with your StarStax image 👍
@@JamesBrewphoto thanks James, I'll give it a go tonight.
Fantastic shot James!! You make it look easy. But I have a question for you. Are you shooting in RAW ? And if so, do you have long exposure noise reduction on ??
Thanks Joseph - Yes I shot in Raw. I did all my base edits in RAW in lightroom, them exported to JPEG before stacking those in StarStax. Long exposure noise reduction turned off 👍
Permission to ask a few questions James.
What direction should we aim at when we expect to get a startrail image in full circle like this? Any specific point in the night sky we should aim at? Not mentioning how high or low the entire of that startrail circle will finally appear after all shots taken. How can we be sure we'll get the startrail in circle shape not just half of it?
I plan to go to the south of Thailand this Summer for both Milky way and stratrail shooting, so I need to make sure I know all fundamental steps and technique before heading there ^^
Thanks James
It all depends on where you intend to shoot from really. You need to try and capture the North Star in your composition if you intend to capture full circle star trails. I’m not sure where that is visible in the sky in Thailand, I’d imagine it would be very low close to horizon. I’d suggest getting an app like Stellarium to help you visualize the night sky. Good luck
I really enjoyed your videos, but do you do mobile astrophotography also? You're inspired me, thank you ☺️
Thanks! No I have never tried mobile astro shooting before - one to try in the future for me
Great work James 👌🏻
If you allow me to ask... The interval was set on 35s or 5s?
Cause you said that after taking the shot it will rest for 5s
Interval set to 35second which covers the 30 second exposure and 5 second rest. Thanks 👍
I see lots of people processing their star trail images using a 'double comet trails' method. Essentially they take the first half of their batch and process it using a normal comet trails method and they then take the second batch and process it with a reverse comet trails method and then combine them in Photoshop. It gives a cleaner, smoother look. I think Lincoln Harrison uses this method but perhaps also slightly defocusing the stars, while retaining their natural spectral colours, to get 'fatter' trails which highlights those colours even further. But don't quote me on that, I've never tried the defocussing part of the process but have started doing the double comet trails part to get, IMO, better results.
Some interesting tips -thanks for sharing 👍
This tip is very good, do you have a video explaining the process? I'm from Brazil here it's hard to learn
@@fabriciohenrique8722 no I don't sorry
Can I get my star trails photo and use it for a sky replacement?
Hi, i saw in other of your video that yu are using now the nikon z7, did you try the samyang lens with nikon z7 for astro photography ? if yes what is your opinion ,i am interested to buy this lense for my nikon z 7 or eventually the new z mount samiang
The Samyang was not compatible with the Z7 - so I have sold it. You can pick up versions which are compatible from what I know however
@@JamesBrewphoto thank you
Hi James. Can you recommend a good memory card for shooting star trails please? I’ve just discovered that my 30MB/s card takes too long to write the pics. Would 170MB/s be sufficient? Thanks
Depends on the resolution of your camera - bigger sensor MP requires faster cards. Fast SD cards are very cheap now so i'd just say get the fastest you can afford
@@JamesBrewphoto thanks for answering my question, James. I’ve invested in a much faster SD card now. Just need some clear skies over here in Yorkshire.
Thank you James...very good video. I'm assuming when you refer to the stars moving...its actually the earth that is rotating, correct? Or am I totally misinformed/misguided? :)
Thanks - yes its the earth rotating 👍
Amazing image, what kinda image would you achieve with bulb mode??
Thank you - its possible to take the same style of image on bulb mode but there are a few disadvantages to that method. 1. More noise in your image, 2. More risk of image destroying movement in tripod. Much better to use intervalometer approach 👍
And you just stack in lightroom? Il try it next time , tried some star Photography couple times last week for first time really enjoyed it and the out come once exported from lightroom
Using software called StarStax 👍
Oh yeh sorry that was in your video!
At 4:13 right above “iso” and “1000” that bar with the “- and +” what does that mean or indicate?
That is the light meter which gives an exposure reading
Luckily you are not far from your home ))))))) otherwise you would need to travel 100+km for a places far from city lights ))))))) Well, anyway I liked the Timelapse with clouds.
How long did you have to stand to get a crisp silhouette of yourself?
Did you manage to catch the Lyrids meteor showers over the last few nights. My balcony looks north-east right up on the coast, I managed to see many meteors unfortunately we have so much light pollution that all I could photograph was orange.
I did settup my tripod for the meteors as well. Took about 900 or so images across multiple nights and caught only around 4 or 5. Quite disappointing really
@@JamesBrewphoto Yes it was a bit hit and miss. I took less and found none, but nice jut to sit outside (even n the dark) for a while.
Should i get the d750 or the A7ii???
Flip a coin
Im glad we dont have a lockdown over here in switzerland - just the majority of busineses are closed and social venuses as well but one can still hike all he wants or bike all he wants.. im actually taking more pictures than ever.. right now im editing pictures i took somewhere mid march and still have 1200 to go trough before... just because we work now in home office and i invest the 2h more free time (no work commute) into photographywalks :-D Granted, 95% are garbage and of those 5% that look "nice".. only like... 0.5% are actually something i would dare to post "here" (im not a good photographer) but still... i love that im not one of those that dont know what to do with their time if there are no entertainment/social venues open :-D
That would suck hard if they went to order a curfew - well i guess i would blow trough my tabletop miniature painting backlog in abreeze then :-D
Glad you also find activities to do while you are locked in :-) - as for astro .. i tried it but where i live (close to zürich airport) its just too bright.. i would have to drive about 2h to the alps where i know of a spot that is ... as good as it gets without hiking up to actual mountains in the midnight.
I tried it a few weeks back on a mountain pass (1000m asl) but again... i could only make out a few stars due to light pollution. I havent even thought about star trails tho... i wont be able to let it run all night but you gave me some ideas to be creative ! Thank you! :-D (plus now its getting warmer during night time, 3 weeks back it was still close to 0°C here.. now its about 10°C during the night)
Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts - I'd love to be up in the mountains of Switzerland right about now! 🙂
Can you do this in the northern hemisphere
Yes - I live in the northern hemisphere
He just did in this video lol
800 @ 30 seconds?
“At this time of year, polestar is really high up in the sky” ???
Say what? That sounds a bit clueless.
cracking pic. A lot of processing.....you must be glad that you didn't get 800 images then?
Thanks very much Chris - the difference wouldn't have been that major - maybe 10-15 minutes more processing time overall. I've currently got all the time in the world 😂
4:21 "This time of the year the pole star is really high up in the air" Sorry but this sounds very stupid because the pole star is in the same place every time of the year forever XDD
"This time of year the pole star is really high." Bro, Polaris is as high as your latitude at all times.
This means that the earth is flat 💿 and stable and not spherical as they claim
Your comment means that you have absolutely no idea why the thing you're watching is happening and why it could never happen on your magical pizza land.
Talking too much